What MacIntyre needs now is what predecessors Jon Embree and Dan Hawkins needed when they took over at CU. Speed. Speed. Speed. The Buffaloes aren’t fast enough to compete in the Pac-12. They need more playmakers.

On both sides of the ball this season, the Buffs often were overwhelmed by the race horses from stables up and down the West Coast. Before losing to the Utes, CU had lost seven Pac-12 games by an average score of 50-18.

“We need a little bit of help everywhere,” MacIntyre said. “We need a little more speed. We need a little more help in the lines, to have more depth, bigger, stronger guys.”

CU loses three starters on both defense and offense and will lose its most productive offensive player if junior wide receiver Paul Richardson turns pro, which seems likely.

The Buffs will get an injection of speed from two redshirt freshmen: tailback Phillip Lindsay, who is healed from a knee injury suffered during his senior year at Denver’s South High School; and Bryce Bobo, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound receiver who has sparkled on the scout team.

Next year’s breakout star could be Devin Ross, a 5-9 speedster who caught six passes this season as a true freshman.

“Devin Ross is as fast as I am,” Richardson said.

Defensively, the Buffs need to shore up a front seven that allowed a league-worst average of 255.6 yards rushing per game in Pac-12 games and made only 18 sacks. Chidera Uzo-Diribe led the team with four sacks, and he’s a senior. But true freshman Addison Gillam led the team with 118 tackles.

Look for defensive end Derek McCartney, grandson of former CU coach Bill McCartney, to contribute in his redshirt freshman season next year.

“We have to find a way to get more pressure on the quarterback without having to blitz,” MacIntyre said.

The first bowl game in seven years next season isn’t out of the question for the Buffs. But the future of CU football lies somewhere on the recruiting trail that MacIntyre and his staff hit Monday.

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